Harness cord for looms



Sept. 8, 1942. A. M. OWEN HARNESS CORD FOR LOOMS Filed Nov. 21, 1941 31mm or Audrey m. Ourn.

witness Hevber'i. 6. Covey (Ittorneg Patented Sept. 8, 1942 HARNESS CORD FOR LOOMS Audrey M. Owen, Millbury, Mass, assignor to Warren B. Harris, Millbury, Mass.

1 Claim.

This invention relates to harness cords for looms and more particularly to the construction of the end of the harness cord where an eyelet is connected to a cord formed of a textile sheathed flexible wire.

In accordance with the patents to Harris No. 1,720,271 of July 9, 1929, and 2,040,992 of May 19, 1936, a screw threaded eyelet is threaded into the end of a wire core within a textile sheath and held in place by means of a pressed metal ferrule fitted onto the end of the sheath. The ferrule is usually crimped after assembly in order to bind it in a locking engagement with the fabric covering. These ferrules are expensive because they must be made by pressing metal blanks in a die press, and the subsequent crimping requires a further expensive mechanical operation. In addition to the costs of manufacturing and assembly the parts, there is also the serious problem involved in obtaining a supply of these die pressed metal ferrules under the restrictions of the priorities system now imposed on the industries.

I have now found that this ferrule may be made of wire wound in a helical shape, either before assembly or after the eyelet has been put in place; and the primary object of this invention is to provide a construction which may be economically manufactured and readily supplied and the parts thereafter easily assembled to form a very strong construction in which the eyelet is held securely in place under all normal conditions of usage. Further objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates two main embodiments of this invention:

Fig. l is a fragmentary sectional view of a harness cord having an eyelet threaded into the wire core and secured in place by means of a helically wound wire ferrule;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of a modified form in which the eyelet shanks engage the outside of the textile cord and is secured in place by the helical wire ferrule; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through a harness cord of the general construction of Fig. 2, but in which the eyelet shanks are embedded in the textile cord.

The harness cord is customarily used in a loom to operate the harness frame that controls the warp thread. This cord may comprise a flexible wire core made of twisted wire strands l0 which is covered over by an outer flexible sheath l2 of braided or twisted cotton thread or other suitable textile material, and which is preferably coated or impregnated with hot wax or other water repellant substance. Both the wire core and the cotton sheath serve to resist the tensional strains of the harness, and the sheath serves particularly to prevent undue wear of the pulley over which the cord runs. An eyelet is secured to each end of the cord.

In the construction of Fig. l, the eyelet comprises a shank i4 having at its outer end a suitably shaped loop or eye l5 adapted for engagement with a suitable fastening device on the loom. The shank extends into the end of the core and spreads the wire strands apart into firm engagement with the textile sheath. The shank is preferably provided with at least one lug which interlocks with the strands, and this lug is best shaped as a screw thread which may be readily forced into position, as by turning or threading it into place. The shank, however, makes an extensive longitudinal contact with the core and the frictional force will hold it in place. The threaded end of the shank I4 is preferably tapered somewhat to aid in its insertion into the core 10. Various other shapes of shank may be employed, but it is desirable that it have an interlocking lug which binds against the wire strands and resists the tensional force that tends to pull them apart.

The ferrule l6 that surrounds the textile covering I2 is made of a suitable wire, either a spring wire or a soft wire. One type of wire that is well suited for this purpose is a steel wire adapted for making coil springs, such as a tempered spring steel wire of #20 B. & S. gauge or 0.032 inch diameter. Such a wire may be coiled tightly with the coils substantially in contact, and with the internal diameter slightly less than or approximately that of the diameter of the twisted cord fabric covering. This construction is well adapted to be manually forced onto the end of the harness'cord prior to the time when the screw threaded shank is put in place, since the wire spring coils may spread sufficiently to allow the ferrule to be threaded on by a twisting motion or to be forced directly into place. After that wire ferrule has been put into position, the eyelet is then threaded into the end of the core In between the wire strands. This threading operation serves to deform the wire strands and force them outwardly and thus to bind or wedge them securely against the textile covering or sheath and to thrust the latter against the inwardly pressing helical spring that surrounds the same. In the preferred construction, the helical wire ferrule has the end l8 adjacent to the eyelet wound in a conical shape so that it will form a cap over the end of the harness cord and substantially contact with the shank M of the eyelet and thus hold in the frayed ends of the textile covering and the spread wires and form a closed space within which the wire strands are wedgingly held against the inward thrust of the coiled wire.

It is also feasible to assemble the eyelet shank in the end of the wire core before the helical ferrule is put into place. In this case, the cord with its assembled eyelet is rotated on a suitable support about the axis of the shank l4 and a soft steel wire is then wound in place around the parts under suitable tension to hold it firmly against the sheath and thus bind the parts together. The wire is preferably of a soft or nonresilient nature so that it may be easily woundbut it may have some temper. Many types of Wire and constructional details well known in the Wire working industry may be utilized in connection with this construction.

It is also equally feasible to employ an eyelet which is so shaped and arranged that it engages the outside of the textile covering rather than the Wire core. Many types of eyelet construction may be employed for this purpose, such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. In this arrangement, the eyelet is formed of a single piece of metal bent to provide the loop 28 and two spaced shanks 22 which are spaced apart by approximately the thickness of the textile sheath l2, or preferably slightly closer so that they will be embedded in the sheath when assembled, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. If desired, the inner face of one or both shanks 22 may be provided with a single or a plurality of lug 24 which are pressed into the textile covering and thus further aid in holding the parts together. These lugs or teeth may be short and engage only the sheath or they may be long enough to be forced into the inner metal core of the harness cord. In this construction, the helical wire 26 is preferably wound over the harness cord and the shanks after they have been assembled. If desired, a helix of spring wire may be placed on the cord beyond the point of final assembly and then after the eyelet has been put in position, the helix is forced back toward the end of the cord and over the opposed shanks.

Many other types of construction may be employed in connection with this invention, but in every case a helically wound metal ferrule is assembled over the end of the harness cord, and the compressional force imposed by the wound wire serves to hold the eyelet in position. It has been found that a comparatively light wire of considerable resiliency, that can be easily spread apart and readily threaded into place on the fabric covering, gives sufficient compressional force to hold the eyelet in place so that under an abnormal tensional load the cord-will break elsewhere before the eyelet can pull out of place.

It is also feasible to connect the coiled wire to the eyelet, as by welding the end coil to the shank I4 or by otherwise securing the parts together. This aids in making a strong structure.

The operation and the utility of the device will now be appreciated, and it is to be understood that the above description serves to define the general principles and the preferred embodiments of the invention and it is not to be construed as imposing limits on my invention within those set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A loom harness cord comprising an outer textile sheath, a reinforcing core of twisted wire strands within the sheath, a metal eyelet having shanks in extensive longitudinal engagement with the opposed outer portions of the sheath, each shank having at least one lug interlocking with the surface portion of the sheath and a metal ferrule formed of helically wound wire engaging said shanks and the outer surface of the sheath and thus binding the shanks in position and holding the eyelet securely attached to the cord.

AUDREY M. OWEN. 

